Pitchess Detention Center officials reported there are no inmates in isolation due to coronavirus in its South Facility, but reported 63 inmates are under quarantine.
Quarantine, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials, is defined as individuals who have had close contact of 10 minutes or more with a person currently under observation. An inmate can be quarantined without being symptomatic, according to sheriff’s officials.
Inmates go into isolation when “they have a temperature of 100.4 or higher and are exhibiting symptoms of an upper respiratory infection.”
Pitchess Detention Center, as whole, consists of four jails, including South Facility, a handful of ancillary facilities, the 2,260-acre and 8,000 or so inmates. South Facility has approximately 2,500 inmates, according to a Sheriff’s Department official.
A total of eight inmates within the jail population at other LASD facilities have tested positive for COVID-19, 19 have been isolated and six of them remain in isolation while two inmates have fully recovered and were symptom-free for 72 hours, according to officials.
A total of 376 LASD employees have been quarantined, 29 have tested positive and 223 have returned to work after following the proper Centers for Disease Control guidelines.
Questions about the status of the Pitchess Detention Center inmates under quarantine were redirected by both Pitchess Detention Center and the Sheriff’s Information Bureau to their website. The numbers are updated daily at approximately 9 a.m., according to officials.
A total of seven citations and one arrest have been conducted by LASD personnel in regard to failure to comply with Public Health orders, for a total of eight enforcement actions, Sheriff Alex Villanueva said during a news conference on Friday.
“Keep in mind, each citation carries a potential fine up to $1,000 as determined by the judge,” said Villanueva. “But overwhelmingly, the public is following along, they’re complying and we’re here to help the public.”
“We do have a continuing downward trend on crime overall,” Villanueva added.
The department is reporting that violent crime is down 4.5% since the health order was issued last month, in comparison to this same time period last year.
Overall crimes, or what Villanueva described as “serious crimes,” were down 14.36% countywide. Calls for service have also gone down a total of 11%.
“Definitely things are changing for the better for now, so we just have to keep working together in that regard,” said Villanueva.
